FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David Foote, dfoote@footepartners.com Ted Lane tlane@footepartners.com Tel: 772-234-2787 FOOTE IT NEWS ANALYSIS Bureau of Labor Statistics US Employment Report September 2011 Vero Beach, FL Sunday, October 7, 2011. In an analysis of Friday s release of the September 2011 U.S. employment numbers by the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (DOL/BLS), Foote Partners reports a net gain of 11,500 jobs in two IT services job sectors Management and Technical Consulting Services and Computer Systems Design and Related Services---representing the sixteenth consecutive month of positive job growth in these job segments. (SEE FIGURE 1). There have been 76,200 jobs added to these segments in the last six months, and nearly 130,000 in the last twelve months. There s no question that consulting firms and systems integrators are benefitting from current corporate staffing strategies for acquiring needed pure technology skills---which is to rent them, not to buy them, says David Foote, CEO at IT analyst firm Foote Partners that publishes proprietary national labor trend research. The broader trend continues to be employers hiring hybrid IT-business professional with combinations of both business and technology knowledge, experience, and skill sets unlike those found in traditional IT organizations. It s nearly impossible to track these hybrids in the monthly federal jobs reports because they re found in the business lines, corporate departments, product development groups, and in a wide variety of implementation and support functions throughout the enterprise. But make no mistake, insists Foote, It s a very robust job market for them at the moment.
Warning signs on the horizon Fears of a possible dip back into economic recessions have not been alleviated by three key statistics in Friday s federal jobs report (SEE FIGURES 2, 3, 4, 5) Long term employment, defined as those jobless for 27 weeks or more, increased by 200,000 workers in September. The number of discouraged workers - those who have given up looking for jobs -- increased by 23,000 workers last month now stands at 1 million total. The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary parttime workers) rose by 500,000 in September and now totals 9.3 million workers
FIGURE 1 U.S. Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Situation Report (Through September 2011) CUMULATIVE JOB SITUATION TRENDS IT PROFESSIONALS Highlights for five bellwether IT jobs segments) U.S. LABOR DEPT CUMULATIVE NET JOB GAINS/DECLINES JOBS SEGMENT 12 mos. 10 mos. 7 mos. 6 mos. 4 mos. 3 mos. 2 mos. Oct'10 - Sep'11 Dec'10 - Sep'11 Mar'11 - Sep'11 Apr'11 - Sep'11 Junl1 - Sep'11 Jul'11 -Sep'11 Aug'11 - Sep'11 Professional and Technical Services 223,500 209,400 190,100 155,400 82,100 57,900 40,200 Segment 1: Management/Technical Consulting Services Segment 2: Computer Systems Design/Related Services 53,700 47,400 34,300 34,600 18,100 16,900 11,500 74,500 66,100 48,000 41,600 25,500 19,800 13,700 Information -23,000-23,000-18,000-14,000-15,000-15,000-14,000 Segment 3: Telecommunications -29,300-31,300-21,000-17,200-12,800-12,400-9,700 Segment 4: Data Processing/Hosting/ Related Services -3,100-3,600-1,200-700 -1,000-700 -500 TOTAL - ALL 4 IT SEGMENTS 95,800 78,600 60,100 58,300 29,800 23,600 15,000 Tech Services segments 128,200 113,500 82,300 76,200 43,600 36,700 25,200 Information segments -32,400-34,900-22,200-17,900-13,800-13,100-10,200 Key: Net job declines in red Net job gains in green
FIGURE 2 JOB GROWTH/DECLINE - Management/Technical Consulting jobs vs. Computer Systems Design/Related services jobs Net job gains/losses from January 2010 through September 2011) 25,000 20,000 15,000 7,900 10,000 5,000 0 7,700 8,200 4,200 6,100 6,000 8,600 7,500 10,500 5,300 11,300 7,300 5,800 7,100 8,000 900 5,700 6,900 6,600 6,400 5,200 5,400 6,000 4,000 5,500 1,100 3,700-700 1,800 2,600 2,900 3,600 1,000 300 1,200-300 -300-900 -300 Jan-10 Feb-10 Mar-10 Apr-10 May-10 Jun-10 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11 Aug-11 Sep-11-5,000-5,000-3,400-5,800-10,000 Management/Technical Consulting Services net gain/loss Computer Systems Design/Related Services net gain/loss
Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09 Aug-09 Sep-09 Oct-09 Nov-09 Dec-09 Jan-10 Feb-10 Mar-10 Apr-10 May-10 Jun-10 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11 Aug-11 Sep-11 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09 Aug-09 Sep-09 Oct-09 Nov-09 Dec-09 Jan-10 Feb-10 Mar-10 Apr-10 May-10 Jun-10 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11 Aug-11 Sep-11 Foote Partners, LLC FIGURE 3 UNEMPLOYED AND UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS: Total vs. Long-Term vs. Parttimers # of unemployed persons (millions) Long-term unemployed/27+ weeks (millions) Employed part-time for economic reasons (millions) 16,000,000 14,000,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 0 FIGURE 4 LABOR FORCE COMPOSITION Marginally attached vs. Discouraged Wanted #REF! to work but can t find jobs or have given up looking Marginally attached to labor force (millions) Discouraged workers (not looking for work) 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000 0
FIGURE 5 - U.S. Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Situation Report (Through September 2011) KEY EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS Last 30 Months Feb-09 Aug-09 Aug-10 Nov-10 Feb-11 May-11 Aug-11 Sep-11 (31 mos. ago) (25 mos. ago) (13 mos. ago) (10 mos. ago) (7 mos. ago) (4 mos. ago) (1 mo. ago) (Now ) Unemployment rate 8.1% 9.7% 9.6% 9.8% 8.9% 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% # of unemployed persons 12.5 million 14.9 million 14.9 million 15.1 million 13.7 million 13.9 million 14.0 million 14.0 million Long-term unemployed--27+ weeks 2.9 million 5.0 million 6.2 million 6.3 million 6.0 million 6.2 million 6.0 million 6.2 million (% of total unemployed persons) n/a n/a 42.0% 41.9% 43.9% 45.1% 42.9% 44.6% Civilian labor force participation rate 65.6% 65.5% 64.7% 64.5% 64.2% 64.2% 64.0% 64.2% Employment-population ratio 60.3% 59.2% 58.5% 58.2% 58.4% 58.4% 58.2% 58.3% Employed part-time for economic reasons 8.6 million 9.1 million 8.9 million 9.0 million 8.3 million 8.5 million 8.8 million 9.3 million Marginally attached to labor force 2.1 million 2.3 million 2.4 million 2.5 million 2.7 million 2.2 million 2.6 million 2.5 million Discouraged workers (not looking for work) 731,000 758,000 1,100,000 1,300,000 1,000,000 822,000 977,000 1,000,000
ABOUT FOOTE PARTNERS Foote Partners LLC is a Vero Beach, FL based independent IT benchmarking research and advisory firm targeting the execution side of managing IT capabilities and the human side of technology value creation. The firm provides deep benchmark research and pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about building and managing the modern business/it hybrid professional workforce. Founded in 1997 and comprised of former Gartner and META Group industry analysts, McKinsey & Company and Towers Watson consultants, and former corporate HR, IT, and business executives, Foote Partners has been a thought leader and trusted advisor to more than 2,000 employers on six continents that are seeking new ways to improve IT s impact on their businesses and customers. Headquarters: 4445 North A1A, Suite 200 Vero Beach, FL 32963 Tel: 772-234-2787 Web: www.footepartners.com Blog: http://twitter.com/fpview 2011 Copyright Foote Partners LLC (www.footepartners.com). 772-234-2787. All Rights Reserved. Page 7 Copying, reproducing, or publishing graphic content from this release prohibited with permission of author.